Disappearing stairway



y 1951 E. PL GARNER DISAPPEARING STAIRWAY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 26, 1946 FIG'Z FIG-6 s ERNEST P. GARNER Patented May 1, 1951 UNITED STATES .LPATENT OFFICE DISAPPEARING STAIRWAY Ernest P. Garner, Charlotte, N. 0.

Application August 26, 1946, Serial No. 693,140

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a disappearing staircase assembly and especially of the type which provides access to the attic of a building. More specifically it relates to locking-means which will hold the stairway in stationary position when it is lowered or when it is raised and in folded or nested position.

' Heretofore, much difficulty has been encountered due to the lack of ample lock facilities for a disappearing stairway both in unfolded or usable position and in folded and non-used position. When these stairways are not properly locked in lowered position there is a tendency for the lower end thereof to slide away from the user when he begins to apply his weight. This is true regardless of whether he is ascending or descending the stairway. As a result, the user assumes a risk which is greater than that which he assumes when using a well anchored stairway.

When the stairway is in elevated or nonusable position, it is desirable to lock the stairway relative to the doorway on which it is mounted so that it cannot change position and cause hanging up of the stairway, makin it difficult to open the same.

Since it is usual1y desirable to use a stairway assembly of this type, in combination with a pivoted ceiling door with antifriction means for supporting the stairs in slidable relation thereto and with a coil spring mechanism for normally urging the stairway upwardly, a locking mechanism is extremely important for holding the stairway in locked position relative to the pivoted door whether the stairway be in lowered position or in elevated position.

Under normal conditions, the strength of the coil mechanism is not suficient to lift the entire weight of the stair; however, a slight variation in the coil tension and in the weight of the stair, might be sufficient, at times, to cause it to rise upwardly, thereby leaving the lower end floating some distance from the floor level, or causing the lowerend to slide along the floor.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a mechanism which will automatically lock the stairway in stationary position relative to its associated pivoted or ceiling door upon the lowering of the parts to operative position and also when the parts are moved to nonoperative or folded position.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an elevation of the ladder, showing 2 a portion of the door with which it is associated in section, and showing it in elevated or nonusable position;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing the door pivoted downwardly and the ladder extended to where its lower end touches the floor therebeneath Figure 3 is an isometric view of the tension means and associated parts for normally urging the ladder upwardly;

Figure is a sectional view taken substantially along the line i-t in Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a detailed elevation taken substantially along the line 5-5 in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail of the upper locking dog;

Figure 7 is a sectional view of the casing 45 and associated parts.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral l8 denotes the floor line of a building with the ceiling ll thereabove, such ceiling having an opening 52 therein. Pivoted at one end of the opening 12 as at M is a door l5, and this door' is adapted to close the opening I2 when its associated stairway is in a retracted or elevated position. The door l5 has a link l6 pivotally secured thereto which may extend down far enough to be engaged by a personstanding on the floor It], or which may have a suitable cord tied to the lower end thereof to extend down far enough to be reached by a person Standing on the floor It. By means of this cord and link i5 it is possible to move the door downwardly when it is desired to use the stairway.

In order to normally hold the door I5 in the closed position as shown in Figure 1, it is necessary to provide a suitable means such as a tension spring I! on each side of the opening, one end being attached to the doorway l5 as in [9 and the other end being attached to the upper end of the post 20 which post is secured to the framework 18 for supporting the ceiling II.

A board 25 is pivoted, as at 26, a short distance above the pivot point it. The board has upper Z-shaped brackets 21 secured to the upper side thereof and these brackets, in turn, have rollers 28 rotatahly secured to their proximate faces, which rollers support the side rails 29 of the ladder 39. The outer sides of side rails 29 have grooves 3i cut therein, in which the upper inturned proximate ends of the Z-shaped members 21 are adapted to fit. It is seen that the rollers 28 provide 'antifriction supporting means for the upper ends of rail 29, whereas, the inturned upper ends of the brackets 21 end anchored, as at 50, to the door I2. spring drum 45 is of the coiled spring type, and since the details are conventional, it is not furnish the guiding means, since these ends are disposed in the grooves 3|. Rails 29 are spaced apart from each other by suitable treads 34, which are spaced so as to form steps upon which a person ascends or descends the stairway. Also secured to one side of the stairway 30 is a hand rail 35, supported by standards 33 secured to one or both of the members 29.

The parts 21 and 28, which have been described, provide means for supporting the upper end of the ladder 30. Means for supporting the lower end are similar and comprise a pair of lower Z-shaped brackets 31, which have inturned proximate end portions fitting into the slots 31 in rails 29. These brackets 37 are equipped with rollers 38 supporting the lower edges of the rails 29.

In order to properly mount the brackets 3'! upon the ceiling door IS, a cross bar 39 is provided. It is, therefore, seen that the ladder 30 is mounted on top of the rollers 25 and '38, 'using the Z-shaped brackets 21 and 31 as guiding means to prevent any substantial lateral or vertical movement of the ladder relative to the 'ceiling door 15. The structure thus far described is very similar to the structure asset forth in my Patent No. 2,203,086 of June 4, 194-0, an'd'i'tis in this structure that certain improvements have been incorporated.

In order to facilitate the use of the stairway 35,

it is necessary to provide means for normally a tape "46 extending therefrom, the other end of the tape having a pulley 41 secured thereto and a cable or-cord 48 is passed ove this pulley and has one end anchored, as at 49, to one of the treads of the stairway, and having the other The deemed necessary to show the specific structure dispo'sedtherein. It is sufiicient to add that up- Onsup'plementing the upward pressure exerted der or stairway, so that a slight lift on the part of the user will be necessary when retracting the same.

Since the upper end of the ladder 35 is supported slightly to the right of the pivot point 25, and since the line of tensile force exerted by the tape "46, which emanates from the drum 45, is above the same pivot, there is a tendency to rotate the door 25 ina clockwise manner about the pivot point 26. In order to counteract this clockwise rotation, a bar'5l has been secured to the upper side of the board 25 as at 52. This bar extends substantially parallel to the door l5, as *well as to the ladder 30 and its free end normally "rests'on top of the bar 39, which is secured to the upper side of the door l5. Due to this tendency to rotate the board 25 in a clockwise direction about pivot point 26, the free end of the bar'5l willat all times rest on top of the bar 35 regardless of whether the ladder is in an operative or a retracted position.

ered position. mechanism in Figure 2, it is only necessary for theoperator to push the rod 65 upwardlyasmall amount and to unlock the stairway, and in the In order to provide locking means for locking the stairway, either in the position shown in Figure 1, or in the position shown in Figure 2, I have provided lower and upper pivoted latch members and 56 pivoted to either one of the sides 29, but these are shown in the drawings as being on the left hand side of the stairway looking up the stairway. These latch members 55 and 55 are pivoted as at 51 on one of the side rails of the stairway, and each has an arcuate slot 59 penetrated by a guide screw 58 secured in the stairway rail. Pivotally connected to these latch members 55 and 56 are the ends of an elongated rod 60 which joins the two latch members together for operation at the same time. Each of these latch members 55 and 56 have downwardly projecting shoulders or dogs and member 55 is looking the stairway relative'to the door by engaging one of the Z-shaped brackets '31, while in the unfolded position, as shown in Figure 2, the latch member 55 is engaging the Z shaped member 21 to lock the stairway in low- In order to release the locking position shown in Figure 1 the operator can engage the latch member 55 or the link 60, and

pivot the same to release the dog from the Z- shaped bracket 31.

The latch members 55 and 56 and link Gil are urged to the right in Figures '1 and 2bya tension spring 54 secured to dog'55 at one end-and to one of the side rails 28 at its other end.

connected to the frame of the ladder, which required it to unwind very much more when the ladder was let down to the :position shown in Figure 2, and this winding and unwinding from -the'casing 45, especially when the tape had its upper edge rubbing against the upper portion of the entrance of the casing, would tend to disfigure and prematurely wear out the steel tape '45. By providing the cable 48 having its two ends attached to the door I5 and to the ladder,

and passing through the pulley 47 on the free end of tape 46, it is evident that the tape 46 would not have to unwind and wind to as great a length as in the former patent. This causesthe tape 46 to last very much longer than it would if its free end were afiixed to the stairway.

The casing 55 and tape i5 is of conventional structure. The casing lfi has a lid 45a and a bottom portion 451), the bottom portion beingsecured to the board 25 by any suitable means such as screws '15. The lid 45a is secured to the upper open portion of the casing 45 b means of suitable screws ll penetrating the lid 45a and also the bottom 45b being embedded in the board 25. Fixedly secured in the bottom-45b is a stub shaft 12 which penetrates a suitable hole in lid 45a. This stub shaft 12 has fixedly secured thereto one end of a coiled torsion spring 14 which has a plurality of convolutions similar to a clock spring and has its other end secured to a drum l5 and on the exterior of drum 15 is secured one end of the'steel tape 45, and the other end of the steel tape 45 has the pulley 4! thereon, as has previously been described.

It is thus seen that I have provided an improvement over and above my above referred to patent, which will not only look the stairway in usable position, but will lock it in folded or nonusable position, and which will enable one going into an attic to lock the stairway behind him as well as to lock it in unfolded or usable position.

In the drawings and specification, there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are eh ployed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claim.

I claim:

An improvement in a disappearing stairway assembly adapted to be used on an attic door, said attic door closing an attic opening and being pivoted to an end wall of the opening for movement downwardly at its free end, said assembly having a pivoted member secured to the same end wall opening to which the attic door is pivoted and at a higher elevation, said assembly having a pair of upper uprising Z-shaped brackets having their upper ends turned inwardly toward each other and secured at their lower ends to the upper surfac of said pivoted member, said assembly also having a pair of lower spaced Z-shaped brackets having their upper ends turned inwardl toward each other and secured at their lower ends to the upper surface of said attic door near its free end, said assembly having a ladder provided with side rails each having a longitudinally extending groove in its outer surface into which the inturned upper ends of all of said brackets are adapted to slidably fit for guiding said side rails, said brackets having rollers mounted on the proximate surfaces thereof on which the lower edges of the side rails are adapted to rest, said assembly having an upstanding support having its lower end secured at a point adjacent the pivoted end of said attic door, said assembly having a tension spring connected to the upper end of said support at one end and having its other end connected to the upper surface of the attic door near its free end, said assembly also having tension means mounted on the first pivoted member and having the other end thereof secured to an intermediate portion of said ladder, said improvement comprising an 6 upper pivoted latch member disposed on the outer surface of one of the side members and near the upper end thereof, a lower pivoted latch member disposed on the outer surface of and on the same sid member as the upper pivoted latch member and being located near the lower end of the ladder, a rod pivotally connected at its ends to said pivoted latch members, tension means normally tending to move said rod towards the lower end of said ladder and to urge the lower ends of said pivoted latch members toward the upper end of the ladder, the upper pivoted latch member having a shoulder on its lower end facing toward the upper end or" the ladder and provided with a sloping lower end extending away from said shoulder toward the lower end of the ladder and adapted to ride over the upper Z-shaped bracket when the ladder is moved downwardly so that its shoulder will engage one of the upper Z-shaped brackets for latching the stairway when it-has been pulled downwardly relatively to the attic door, the lower pivoted latch member having a projection provided with a wall facing downwardly toward the lower end of the ladder for engaging one of the lower Z-shaped members when the ladder has been moved to fully raised position, and having a sloping portion on that side next to the first pivoted latch member whereby said rod may be engaged by the hand of an REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 418,046 Mitchell Dec. 24, 1889 1,936,929 Bessler Nov. 28, 1933 1,994,883 Chambers Mar. 29, 1935 2,203,086 Garner June 4, 1940 

